Paul and Lucy Spadoni periodically live in Tuscany to explore Paul’s Italian roots, practice their Italian and enjoy “la dolce vita.”
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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Meaning and origins of the names Seghieri and Sighieri tied to Lombards

The insignia of one of the Seghieri families of Montecarlo,
Lucca. The saw over the lion is the result of a probably
mistaken belief that Seghieri derived from the word sega,
Italian for saw.

Seghieri
and Sighieri are rather unusual names that seem to all derive from the same
source and location in Tuscany in the areas of Pisa, Montecarlo, Altopascio and
other locations between those cities.

Doctor
Sergio Nelli, distinguished author and historian who works at the State
Archives in Lucca, believes the various versions of these names derive from the
Lombards (Longobardi in Italian), a German tribe that originated in the far north of Europe, passed into
and through Germany and then invaded Northern Italy and Tuscany. This tribe
never seems to have stayed in one place for long, moving from north to south
and adopting the language and customs of the people they conquered and leaving
their architectural legacy as far south as Sicily. They established a kingdom
in Italy that endured from 568 to 744, although Lombard nobles continued to rule
parts of the Italian peninsula until well into the 11th century. The
name of the region Lombardy derives from these people.

Amerigo Seghieri wrote several books
on the game of chess. This was published
in 1892. He was born in Montecarlo
in 1831.

It
appears that our name derives from two Germanic words, Sieg—which means victory or victorious—and Herro—the Old High German word for Herr, which means lord. So, victorious lord might be the meaning of
the name. It is also possible that the second part of the name could have been Heri, which means army in Old High
German, so an alternate translation could be victorious army.

This memorial is found in the crypt of
the Church of Sant'Andrea in Montecarlo.

During medieval
times, the name was Latinized and appears in lists of important residents
between Pisa, Florence and Lucca as Sigherius, Segherius, Sighierius, Sicherius
and Sicherii. Latinization would have been common at that time, because after the
Roman Empire collapsed in Western Europe, the main bastion of scholarship was
the Roman Catholic Church, for which Latin was the primary written language. Of
the two most common versions of the name today, Sighieri is used more in Pisa and
surrounding areas and Seghieri in the areas of Montecarlo and Altopascio. Another
variation found throughout the same region in Tuscany is Sevieri, most likely
from the same origin.

This is also from the Seghieri pizzeria in Livorno.

Namespedia.com
said the surname Seghieri occurs 75 times in Italy, 35 in France, 28 in the
United States and 10 in Argentina. It has no listings for Sighieri, which
causes me to mistrust its accuracy, since I know that variation is common in
Tuscany.

This popular Sighieri gelateria is located in Pisa.

Another
website, forebears.io, says the Seghieri surname is found 190 times in Italy,
98 in France, 75 in Argentina and 31 in the United States. It also lists
Sighieri: Italy, 157; Brazil, 64; and France, 49; United States, 0. However,
forebears also says Seghieri is found in Algeria a whopping 446 times, and I
find this hard to believe.

Ettore Sighieri wrote the Floods of
the Arno, published in 1934. There
is a street named after him in Pisa.

However, I do find a few people from Algeria with
the surname on Facebook, and it’s possible that the Algerian Seghieri families
have been overlooked previously because of an absence of central name databases
there. If any members of the Seghieri/Sighieri Facebook groups can add insight,
please contact me or leave a comment.

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First off, before you hassle me about our title, Lucy thought of it. Yes, I know some people may think broad is derogatory, but the etymology is uncertain and she doesn’t find it offensive, and it made me laugh. We have been married since 1974 and are empty-nesters now, which allows me to bring my submerged Italophilia into the open. We first came to live in Italy from February-April in 2011 and have returned during the same months every year. From 2011-2015, we lived in San Salvatore, at the foot of the hilltop city Montecarlo, where my paternal grandparents were born, raised and, in 1908, married. In late 2015, we bought a home in Montecarlo. We come for a variety of purposes: We want to re-establish contact with distant cousins in both Nonno’s and Nonna’s families, we want to learn the language and see what it is like to live as Italians in modern Italy, we like to travel and experience different cultures. Even if we aren’t successful at achieving these purposes, we love Italy and enjoy every moment here, so there is no chance we will be disappointed. I am grateful to God for giving me a wife who is beautiful, clever, adaptable and willing to jump into my dreams wholeheartedly.